Of Heartbreaks and Useless Apologies
by percico-feels
Summary: The first time they met again, Annabeth was not psychologically prepared for that encounter. But fate is a cold hearted bitch and loves to fuck up good people's lives. So of course that, when Annabeth stepped into the small restaurant that cold winter night, she came face to face with Nico and Percy. One-Shot. Slash. Percico.


**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO, Rick Riordan does. And I'm not getting any money by writing this story. This is just for fun. :D**

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**Of Heartbreaks and Useless Apologies**

_by percico-feels_

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_"I'm so sorry Annabeth, but our relationship is not working anymore. Maybe… it would be for the best if we just broke up._

Those words, said almost two weeks ago, still haunted her, no matter how hard the girl tried to forget them.

It had happened out of a sudden, unexpectedly. At least that was what Annabeth believed, because she never saw that coming. But maybe the sings were all there to be seen and, in her blindness and unfailing faith, she just ignored everything.

Because after four years of relationship; four whole years of companionship, love, trust. After four years sharing the most important moments of your life with somebody, the chances of a betrayal is almost inexistent, right?

Wrong.

_"Tell me what I did wrong."_

_"You did nothing wrong. I just accepted who I truly am."_

He just accepted who he was. Great. Wonderful. Really, it was just so very good to know that he was in peace with himself. That he came to terms with who he truly was and was okay with his feelings. But that gave him no right to hurt her like he did, gave him no right to _betray_ her like he did.

_"Who?"_

_"Nico"_

Because it wasn't the fact that Percy was finally going to open up to the world about his sexuality that angered Annabeth. It wasn't the fact that the son of Poseidon had moved on almost instantly after they broke up. As well as it didn't really matter to her if the person Percy had chosen was male or female.

What hurt and bothered her was the fact that Percy had kept such an important thing from her and for such a long time. What made her want to go straight to the son of Poseidon and yell at him until her throat was hurting was the fact that he had fooled her shamelessly. That he had spent weeks, maybe even months, sneaking out of their bed, at the latest hours of night and while she was fast asleep, to go meet him. What broke her heart was the fact that Percy chose to destroy the friendship they'd work so hard to build, just because he was _scared_.

That was what hurt her the most. That was what she would never forgive.

* * *

The first time they met again, Annabeth was not psychologically prepared for that encounter. How could she be prepared to see his ex-boyfriend with his new boyfriend, just one month after their break up?

But fate is a cold hearted bitch and loves to fuck up good people's lives. So of course that, when Annabeth stepped into the small restaurant that cold winter night , where she intended on having her first decent meal in weeks… of course she came face to face with Nico and Percy.

For some seconds, she felt paralyzed right on her place. Her hands gripping forcefully at the open door, allowing the cold breeze to enter the place and shatter the whole comfy-cozy atmosphere. Just a few feet from where she was standing, Percy was whispering something into Nico's ear, making him blush, although he made no effort to shoo the other guy away. Their amiability, their display of intimacy was simply nauseating.

The moment, however, was broken as soon as Nico's dark eyes met Annabeth's grey ones. For how long she had been standing there, she would never know. But as soon as they stared at each other's eyes, and Annabeth saw the most complete and utter panic take over Nico's features, it was like a shock travelled through her entire body. And taking control over her movements once more, the daughter of Athena turned on her heels and walked out of the restaurant as quickly as she could.

She couldn't go far, though. Her legs were too trembling to give her that possibility. Annabeth walked less than ten meters, before her knees lost its strength and gave in over her, suddenly, too heavy body. She had to rest against the nearest wall, looking for support.

She just wanted to get the hell out of there and hide once more on her bed, where she knew she was safe from all those suffocating feeling. She wanted to get rid of that torment, wanted her eyes to stop tingling, wanted to be strong enough to walk into that god damned restaurant and show those two that she was giving a shit about them.

She wanted… but she couldn't; she wouldn't.

Because deep down Annabeth knew she didn't have enough strength for that. She knew that everything was too recent and that she needed time to heal those still open wounds.

"Annabeth"

The uncertain, shy, voice froze her from head to toe. Why, gods? Why was she supposed to face that kind of situation when she clearly had no conditions to actually do it? What had she done that was so terrible, that now she was having such a cruel punishment?

"Nico"

Her voice came out weaker than she intended, while she gathered all the courage she still had and stood properly.

And there he was, on his usual black clothes, but with an anxious expression on his face that could only be described as odd. He was on a safe distance from her, but close enough to make her uncomfortable. He shouldn't be there; she never wanted him to be there.

"Are you okay?"

Her stomach was turning over violently; so violently that Annabeth thought, for a second, that she would throw up right there. And the longer she stared at the son of Hades, the sicker she felt.

"Yes"

It was a lie. She knew it was a lie. He knew it was a lie. But none of them dared to disagree.

Nico hesitated. He opened his mouth for some instants, before closing it again. Whatever he intended to say, it seemed he had decided against it.

"I need to go."

And how very true that simple sentence was. She needed to get out of there before she could do anything stupid. She needed to leave before the tingling on her eyes turned into something unbearable and she could shed her first tears. She needed to leave for her own sanity.

"He's truly sorry, Annabeth" Nico's voice sounded strangled, desperate "He never meant to hurt you."

The cold nausea on her stomach was soon replaced by such a great fury, that Annabeth was impressed her heart was not collapsing. And to make the whole situation even worse, Percy chose that exact moment to leave the restaurant and join them. His hands found Nico's shoulders and rested on them on such a natural gesture that the girl could've missed it if she wasn't so hyper aware of what was happening around her. Such a natural kind of gesture and that, she could now see, never existed when they were together.

"You're a couple of hypocrites!" she snarled, her whole body shaking slightly "'He never meant to hurt you'… do you really think I'll believe on this bullshit?"

Nico seemed completely taken aback by her sudden outburst. He took a step back, as Percy pulled his arm around his shoulder.

"I didn't want to… I'm so sor…"

"Stop apologizing, di Angelo!" she practically spit out the words "You two fooled me, apologizing won't change anything. So stop it!"

Annabeth could taste the bitterness on her own words; could feel the anger running on her veins and working as fuel to that attack that (she knew) would bring no good to any of them.

"Don't yell at him like that, your problem is with me, Annabeth."

Of course he would come on his beloved's rescue; Annabeth should have predicted that reaction. Percy was always acting like the hero he claimed to be, there was no doubts he would try to save his princess in distress from the wicked witch's accusations. A dry, humorless laugh escaped her throat before she could do anything to prevent it.

"No Percy, my problem is with both of you" she replied "You didn't hurt me by yourself, you had help. You were my boyfriend, but I also considered Nico a friend. It seems that I was wrong about both, because you didn't even have the decency to wait until our relationship was over to jump into each other's bed."

"You're sounding like those bitter hearted women" Percy said, embracing Nico protectively "And you're not like this, you're better than this."

"Proud to witness what a great job you two did."

Her grey eyes stared at them on such a cold way, that it could have frozen hell itself.

And what the fuck was she still doing there? That whole situation made no sense at all! Using the rest of willpower she still had, Annabeth turned her back at them. The mere fact that she wasn't facing them anymore was enough to calm her down a little bit.

"I wish you all the happiness in this world" she said dryly, as she walked away from them as fast as her legs allowed her to.

* * *

Percy watched as Annabeth walked down the street. For some moments, he thought about going after her once more, but thought better not. She was so hurt and disturbed that she wouldn't listen to him; Percy knew her well enough.

"She will never forgive us."

His sea green eyes met his boyfriend's dark almond ones and the sadness Percy saw reflected on them was heart wrenching. He hated seeing Annabeth hurt, but he hated knowing that Nico was suffering because of that even more.

"She will forgive us" Percy assured, showing confidence "Maybe not today, maybe not next week, but she will eventually."

A sigh escaped the son of Hades' lips and he rested her hands on his boyfriend's chest, as Percy pulled him closer, forcing him to meet his eyes properly.

"Trust me."

"I do trust you."

How could he not trust Percy, when he was being so sure about what he was talking?

The son of Poseidon kissed the younger's lips softly.

"Come on, let's go back inside" he said "The owner's probably thinking we sneaked out without paying."

_**~FINIS**_

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